A summer adventure with Grandma & Grandpa
by Kelly Errthum
As the days turned into weeks, I could hardly wait. I had a calendar in my room that I marked off each and every day until I got to venture up north with grandma and grandpa. What an adventure it would be, after all, I'm 14 now. Finally, it's my turn to "load my gear" and head up to grandma and grandpa's place. It's a long drive that seems to take days to get there. It's really not that far, just "up north". Is Hayward really that far from Janesville? After what seems to take eons to get there, we pulled in to their "place". It's small but the excitement had me wound like a top! The car hardly lurched to a stop before I was out of the vehicle and letting the "wilderness" know that I'd arrived. I unloaded my gear, and after a short supper, kissed my parents good bye for "my two week adventure." Now, who can say how much fun a 14 year old can have up north? Between walking through the woods, listening to the wilderness, or getting up early and fishing with grandpa, I was bound to have the best two weeks ever! When would we start? Grandpa would be my guide and I would be his student. My grandpa, he's the world's greatest fisherman, (or at least in my eyes.) We would get up each day and sneak off fishing, just the two of us. We'd load our Folgers can full of night crawlers that will hopefully, fill our buckets with live fish. Now remember, I said, in "world's greatest fisherman in my eyes." As the mornings would turn into the afternoon, we'd slither home (knowing that grandma would be waiting for us to take HER fishing... oops). My grandma had Lupus so her fishing time was limited. We always tried to remember to be home on time but, with grandpa, you never could quite get there on time. Needless to say, our days were not filled with buckets of fish to clean, but hours of great conversation, silly jokes and a lifetime of memories. As the days drifted and the weeks melted away, my summer adventure was quickly coming to a close. I was sad to see the car rumble up the driveway to end my journey with grandma and grandpa. I learned a lot that summer, not about fishing because we didn't really catch anything to brag about (except some dandy bug bites). I learned that the time we spend with one another is priceless. My grandparents are gone now and I have children of my own. I'm hoping that I too, can explore the wilderness up north with them and give them some of the same silly memories that I was blessed to create. I've lived in Wisconsin my entire life and never bore of exploring the depth of its greatness and hope that my kids never tire of the beauty of Wisconsin. Because let's face it "There's no place like home, Wisconsin."
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